Report of the Sub Group on Going Digital under the
Chairmanship of Member Secretary Planning Commission
Planning Commission
New Delhi
October 2006
Contents
1.
Introduction
1
2.
DTT around the World
2
3.
Mandate of the Sub group
4
4.
Indian Scenario
5
5.
Digitisation – Status of Stakeholders
11
6.
Spectrum – the heart of Digitization
16
7.
Prasar Bharati – Financial Restructuring
Committee Findings
18
8.
Digital Delhi
20
9.
Going Digital for Digital Unite
21
10.
Road Map for Digitisation
24
11.
12.
Major Recommendations arrived at the meeting
of the Sub Group on Going Digital
Appendix
25
31
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1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Information & Communication Technologies have taken a
big leap forward and the distinction between broadcasting, telecommunications &
multi-media services is disappearing very fast. Convergence is coming not only in
technology but also in carriage infrastructure and receives. Major driver of
convergence is digital technology. Digital compression technology enables
transmission of the same information by usage of less bandwidth in the digital mode
as compared to the requirement in the analogue mode. Digital technology is
spectrum efficient and has been a factor to promote digital revolution. Digital
Terrestrial TV (DTTV or DTT) is an integral part of the digital revolution that is
sweeping the entire globe. DTT is the major driver for digitisation and needs to be
promoted and incentivised in the light of its obvious potential and advantages.
1.2
The corner stone for the success of the broadcasting sector
is undoubtedly the content it transmits – its quality, its relevance and acceptance.
Traditionally, the television broadcasting has been predominantly on terrestrial mode
using analogue technology. This broadcasting mode requires a significant and
scarce resource - spectrum. Due to rapid advances in technology, the countries
world over are moving from Analogue Transmission to Digital Transmission for the
advantages offered by the digital techniques. Digital Terrestrial Television is an
implementation of digital technology, which is implemented via a Set-Top Box, or
integrated receiving device, that decodes the signal received via a Standard Aerial.
1.3
DTT provides a number of advantages over analogue
broadcasting viz. better reception quality, increased channel carrying capacity, new
features
such
as
programme
guides, multicasting as well as
convergence
of
technologies.
DTT has a potential to provide
triple play, the three important
components of content namely:
voice, video and data with a very
major advantage of freeing up of
valuable spectrum resource.
T
R
I
P
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P
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1.4
DTT is transmitted on radio frequencies that are similar to
standard analogue television, with the primary difference being the use of multiplex
transmitters to allow reception of multiple channels on a single frequency range
(such as a UHF or VHF channel).
Going Digital – First Step
Convergence of Technologies
Image
Voice
Video
Data
1.5
The dawn of digital TV broadcasting will significantly help
reduce the amount of radio spectrum required to maintain the present services. The
savings in the frequency bands in the overall spectrum could help in rolling out other
state-of-the-art services. Hence, any spectrum dividend depends much on the nature
of future digital services, in particular the extent to which mobile reception and / or
HDTV services are considered part of the standard service offering. The savings on
the spectrum would also allow introducing more regional channels, which may be
required in the future. The spectrum dividend arising from the migration could be put
to use in a number of ways,
2.

Provision of additional TV channels

TV enhancements such as mobile reception / HDTV / IP based TV

Introduction of new convergent multimedia services and new applications
such as 3G
DTT AROUND THE WORLD
2.1
DTT has become a reality world-wide already and many
countries around the world have already launched digital Terrestrial Television
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Services. The following Table shows launching of DTT and the closing down of
analogue television in several countries:
Country
Official launch
Start of closedown
Closedown
finished
System
used
United
Kingdom
15 November,
1998
Planned 2008
Planned 2012
DVB-T
Sweden
April, 1999
19 September,
2005
21 November
2007
DVB-T
Spain
May 2000
2008 (Local
channels)
2010 (Rest of
channels) /2009
in Catalonia
DVB-T
Finland
August 27, 2001
Germany
November 2002
Portugal
2002/2003
Faroe Islands
2002/2003
Belgium
2002/2003
DVB-T
Netherlands
2003
DVB-T
Italy
January 1, 2004
DVB-T
Switzerland
~2005
DVB-T
France
March 31, 2005
DVB-T
Greece
January 16, 2006
DVB-T
Denmark
March 31, 2006
DVB-T
Turkey
February 2006
DVB-T
Albania
August 2005
DVB-T
Australia
January 1, 2001
2.2
August 31, 2007
August 2003
December 2002
Planned 2008
DVB-T
Planned ~2008
DVB-T
2010
DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T
DTT development and implementation requires all the
stakeholders to be brought together and incentivised to drive DTT. This includes
public and private broadcasters,
Multi Service Operators (MSO) / cable operators
and industries. Going Digital is a prerequisite to achieve the goals of higher growth,
coverage and excellence in radio and television broadcasting during 11 th Five Year
Plan period. This assumes added significance and needs to be put on finite timelines
in view of the fact that India would be hosting the Commonwealth games in Delhi in
2010. In fact Delhi city needs to go digital. Initiatives required are covered separately
in this report.
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2.3
The major thrust areas for information and broadcasting
sector and Prasar Bharti, in the light of the competition in the market, is to enrich its
content for quality entertainment, education and preservation of art, culture and
music. Technological refurbishment across the sector with a view to retain its viewer
ship and further build upon the same by covering uncovered regions of AIR and DD
also to bringing Multi-Media services, such as interactive broadcasting, webcasting,
telephony and datacasting, into sharp focus in view of the world wide transition from
analog to digital transmission and value added services. Prasar Bharati needs to be
prepared for telecast of Commonwealth games in 2010 in HDTV format which is a
prerequisite for telecast. The host country needs to be fully geared up for this
activity; otherwise, the host country could loose the telecast rights.
3.
MANDATE OF THE SUB GROUP
3.1
Realising the importance and urgent need of addressing the
issue of switching from analogue to digital transmission, PMO had taken a meeting
and constituted a Sub-group under the Chairmanship of Member Secretary, Planning
Commission. Accordingly, a Sub-Group has been constituted with membership from
Ministry of I & B, broadcasting industry, entertainment electronics manufacturing
association, domain experts, which met on 05.04.2006 and 10-10-2006. The
mandate provided to the Sub-group was to prepare a road map for going digital
keeping in line with international trends. The minutes of the first meeting is at
Appendix-A. This report has been prepared after taking into consideration the inputs
given by all the members and the discussions held during the second meeting on 1010-2006. The discussions during the Sub-group meeting covered various issues
related to the four major stake holders, namely,
(i) Prasar Bharti, (2) Private
Broadcasters, (3) MSO & Cable Service Providers and (4) Industry
Prasar Bharati
Private Broadcasters /
Content Providers
DTT Launch –
key stakeholders
MSO /
Cable Operators
Industry
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4.
INDIAN SCENARIO
4.1
The implications of going digital in respect of Prasar Bharti
covering both Doordarshan and AIR have been identified which are as follows:a)
Studio conversion.
b)
Cost implication for analogue to digital terrestrial transmission.
c)
Utilisation of existing infrastructure of Prasar Bharti in the digital era.
d)
Suggested transition path.
4.2
The Private Broadcasters also need to evolve a transition
path to move from analogue to digital transmission. The transition path and
implication related to MSO and Cable Service Providers has been identified for
implementation in two stages : –
1.
Provide digital to analogue Set Top Box (STB) and switching over
to last mile digital transition to be linked with Conditional Access
System (CAS) roll out.
2.
Ultimate transition to digital TV/Radio Receiver Set at the
subscriber end.
3.
The Cable Operators need to be trained to handle the new
technology.
4.3
In this entire exercise, industry needs to play a central role
in gearing themselves up in terms of competency building, repair, maintenance and
production of digital receiver sets in a time bound manner and in synchronization
with the analogue to digital migration plan of the broadcasters. Enabling
interventions from Government would be required to help move to the digital era.
4.4
Digitisation of broadcasting leads to faster convergence of
information, communication and entertainment sectors. This would also fuel creation
of new market opportunities and help create conducive infrastructure for the
introduction of new products and value added services in addition to improving the
quality of existing services. Convergence of technologies will help in providing many
services on a single platform like IPTV, Mobile TV, web casting and Pod casting.
Digitisation and introduction of DTT is incomplete if HDTV is not embraced.
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High Definition TV (HDTV)
4.5
HDTV allows production and broadcast of TV signals with
much higher visual information than traditional standards like PAL, NTSC. The
important features of HDTV format are:

Up to five times the resolution of SDTV.

Wider Aspect Ratio of 16:9.

Supports 5.1 channel Surround Sound.

Picture quality comparable to 35 mm film quality.

HDTV is a subset of Digital Television.
4.6
HDTV unlocks the potential of digitisation, as it is through
HDTV that one could effectively introduce many value added services. Furthermore,
more and more developed counties are insisting on HDTV coverage of important
international events like sports. India hosting the Commonwealth 2010 Games, it is
imperative for us to acquire the skill set and set up necessary infrastructure for
production as well as transmission of programmes in the HDTV format. HD Master
content can be converted to multiple high quality distribution media.The following
viewgraph shows the potential of HDTV.
HD Production of Rich Content
Digital
Digital BroadcastingBroadcasting- DTT
DTT
Digital
Digital Satellite
Satellite -- DTH
DTH
Rich Content
Creation Digital
Production
in HDTV
Digital
Digital Cable
Cable
Format
Format
&
&
Media
Media
Conversion
Conversion
IPTV
IPTV
HD
HD DVD
DVD /
/ Blue
Blue ray
ray
Internet/Web,
Internet/Web, DVB-H
DVB-H
Film
Film Recording
Recording
Digital
Digital Cinema
Cinema
4.7
Prasar Bharati needs to prepare a road map for the
introduction of HDTV in a phased manner starting from Delhi (2008) and extending it
to all the six mega cities and coverage of Commonwealth Games in HDTV format in
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2010. Establishment of Studio, Post Production, OB, EFP facilities at 4 Metro cities
needs to be planned. In the first phase, 2 HD channels on DTH, HD terrestrial
transmission at 4 Metros could be initiated. Prasar Bharati has already initiated a
pilot project for content creation in the HDTV format and to gain experience in this
area, which is a step in the right direction.
IPTV / Mobile entertainment
4.8
India has worked out an ambitious roll out programme for
providing broadband connectivity across the country which is affordable and self
sustaining. Given the disparities in urban and rural connectivity, providing broadband
connectivity in rural area which can provide triple play will make it sustainable and
bridge the connectivity gap. As per the Broadband Policy, 2004, the following targets
have been worked out for the growth of broadband and internet in the country.
Year Ending
Internet Subscribers
Broadband Subscribers
2005
6 million
3 million
2007
18 million
9 million
2010
40 million
20 million
4.9
Broadband services have been introduced and plans are on
the anvil to provide broadband services in 400 cities and service providers have
plans to reach 1000 cities by the end of 2007. These cities include the 63 cities
identified under the National Urban Renewal Mission. The real challenge is to
connect the remote villages unconnected so far due to various reasons. One of the
viable options for providing connectivity is through wireless mode.
4.10
Introduction of broadband connectivity opens up new
market for providing value added services which can be derived from the digitization.
Penetration of TV is much higher than PC in the industrialized countries. Providing
interactive services including internet on TV and TV on internet. These services can
potentially benefit especially the ‘information poor’ and thus reduce the information
gap in the society, which is an important implication of the convergence. Internet on
TV can be provided using Out Of Band (OOB) and In Band (IB) structures. In the IB
structure the internet is transmitted alongside with the broadcasting signal. Here the
characteristics of the broadcasting infrastructures will have a decisive role on the
available services.
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4.11
TV on internet which is also known as WEB TV/Cyber TV
will be the future of broadcasting. A Precondition for the WEB TV to be able to
replace digital TV is the transmission capacity at the end users site increases to such
level that it can be possible to provide digital TV services. WEB TV needs to be coevolved with digital TV and act as complementary for delivery of services.
4.12
Mobility has played a big role in the justification of Digital
Terrestrial Transmission in all those countries where DTT has been implemented.
The argument has been that it is the terrestrial platform which offers mobility. With
3G services being offered by the mobile service operators, providing mobile TV or
mobile broadcasting becomes a reality. The Government needs to incentivize
initiation of such services as mobility is the key parameter in future development of
networks and services. Here the efficiencies gained by combination of broadcast
and communicative services can be transferred to mobile market if broadcast
networks are designed for mobile reception. Also with regards to spectrum efficiency
this combination of terrestrial broadcast platforms and mobile platforms is important.
4.13
Different communication sectors have traditionally been
regulated by different acts and also by different institutions.
The convergence
process and combination of broadcast and traditional telecom networks will require
not only adjustment but also rethinking and redesign of the whole regulatory
framework, thus the need for setting up a common communications convergence
regulator.
Digital Cinema
4.14
Going Digital would be incomplete if entertainment (film)
sector is not covered. Digitization would help not only in controlling the distribution
and exhibition of cinema in digital format but also takes care of an important aspect safeguarding the intellectual property, which would encourage the industry to a
great extent. The digital cinema system which is already a reality in the country
would revolutionize the exhibition of films all over India. Some of the important
benefits are given below:
Curb on piracy
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Software industry the world over is plagued by issues of piracy.
However the Indian film industry faces almost 40% revenue pilferage due to piracy.
In terms of money the industry loses approximately 2000 crore on account of piracy
directly, on which the government neither earns Entertainment Tax nor Income Tax.
Digital Cinema would help curb piracy in a proactive manner where instead of
chasing after the pirates, it will make the pirates business unviable by providing an
early and widespread release of films across the country and thus nipping at the bud
the piracy issue. Furthermore, as there is no physical movement of the film, creation
of pirated copies/ versions of the film is ruled out
Increased box office and Entertainment tax collections
The early availability of films combined with high quality images and
scheduling flexibility ensure increased box office collections. Early migrants to the
digital cinema system have witnessed around 100% increase in revenue collections
by way of increased box office collections and thus increased collection of
Entertainment Tax and Income Tax.
Savings in Foreign Exchange and minimizing wastage in print
Film prints are made from film stock imported from companies like
Kodak, Agfa etc. 800 films with 200 prints each at a cost of Rs.50,000 per print
entails an expense of 800 crore. As the prints cannot be recycled, it is a waste of
money once it completed its life. However Digital Cinema does not use any prints,
hence minimizing wastage and at the same time saving the country precious foreign
exchange.
Employment opportunities in rural areas due to growth of new
cinemas
With the advent of Digital Cinema, niche cinema and regional language
films shall be able to generate revenues, thus making the local film industry in the
states more commercially viable. This will provide employment to local artists and
technicians and other film industry related infrastructural suppliers.
Eliminates environmental pollution
and Savings in Power
Consumption
Analogue prints are made from polyester and are destroyed by burning
which is a huge bio hazard. Digital prints are mere digital files and can be simply
erased from our server’s memory. The Power consumption of a Digital Projection
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System is far more economical as compared to the power consumption of an optical
projection system. The annual power savings if digital cinema is implemented in say
200 theaters across the country works to 87,48,000 KVA.
Virtual shelf life.
Print quality does not deteriorate with repeated use, and every show is
as good as the first show and provides consistent high quality images irrespective of
number of screenings.
Provides new business opportunities
Over the past years, small town cinemas plagued by the piracy and
failure of films coupled with availability of only old films have become economically
unviable.
This has seen the closure of many cinemas. However Digital Cinema
shall bring the small town cinemas at par to the cinema halls in the big cities as the
films can be simultaneously be released across the country, thus providing them a
second lease of life.
New Compact Cinemas
The advent of Digital Cinema has seen proliferation of new and
compact cinema houses in small towns and cities. This shall provide additional
business opportunities to local businessmen and also increase the State’s revenue.
With our efforts and research we have designed compact cinemas, which can be
opened for a minimum investment.
4.15
Government needs to provide incentives for production as
well as exhibition of films in the digital format in its own interest as the loss of
revenue due to piracy is considerable. Production of cinema in digital format could
be on lower tax regime and the theaters which have installed digital cinema
exhibition facilities can be subjected to say lower entertainment tax.
4.16
There is a need to revisit the Cinematograph Act 1952,
which is impeding the spread of digital cinema. There is a misconception that in
digital cinema the screening is not made through cinematograph machine. For the
growth of this important segment of entertainment, there is a need to incorporate
digital cinema in the Cinematograph Act 1952.
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4.17
Digital Rights Management/IPR protection is of paramount
importance in view of piracy.
Many content owners would be apprehensive in
sharing their content as piracy is a major issue. Hence, adequate laws to protect the
rights of the content owners need to be put in place so that they feel safe to share
their content over digital platforms.
4.18
Content digitization is the corner stone and key to the whole
process of going digital. Given the fact that content is owned by small, medium and
big players, the small and medium players would find it difficult to digitized their
respective libraries in the light of huge conversion cost. One way of overcoming this
issue is to encourage content aggregators.
A suitable regulatory/policy regime
needs to be worked out to make this happen in a hassle free manner.
5.
DIGITISATION – STATUS OF STAKEHOLDERS
5.1
Digitalization Programme of Prasar Bharati through its arms
Doordarshan and All India Radio is discharging the role of Public Broadcaster in
India. Over the years, it has taken various steps towards digitalization and the
present status is given below:
Satellite Transmission:
Doordarshan is currently operating 27 TV channels. Satellite transmission of all
these 27 channels is in digital mode. Digitalization of Satellite Channels has resulted
in considerable saving in space segment capacity as far as the spectrum is
concerned. In case of analog transmission, only one channel can be transmitted
through a transponder whereas in case of digital transmission, five channels can be
transmitted through the same single transponder. Doordarshan launched free to air
DTH service “DD Direct Plus” in December, 2004 in digital mode.

Production Centres:
Digitalization of Production Centres is a major thrust area of the 10 th Plan of
Doordarshan. As part of 10th Plan, 17 major Doordarshan Studio Centres are
envisaged to be fully digitalized. Out of these 17 Studio Centres, 7 studio centres
have already been fully digitalized. 30 smaller studio centres are envisaged to be
partially digitalized during 10th Plan period. Out of these 30 studio centres, 9 studio
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centres have since been partially digitalized. Work on digitalization of the remaining
studio centres (10 major studio centres and 21 smaller studio centres) is expected to
be completed, in phases, by end of 10th Plan period.

Terrestrial Transmission:
Digital Television is the way of future, providing interference free reception and
remarkable picture & sound quality. In addition, DTT is highly spectrum efficient.
India had selected DVB –T system for introduction of DTT in the country. This
selection was done by a Core Group comprising of representatives from
Broadcasting organizations, Industry & Research Institutes etc. The Core Group was
headed by Engineer-in-Chief, Doordarshan.
To gain experience in DTT technology, Doordarshan commissioned four digital
transmitters one each at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata & Chennai in January, 2003,
on a pilot basis. A research study about reception in a moving vehicle has also been
carried out.
Mobile TV has also been launched in Delhi in a limited way.
Doordarshan has undertaken a pilot project for reception of TV signals on hand held
devices (Mobile phones) utilizing the existing digital transmitter at Delhi. This
experimental service is expected to be started during 2006.
It is a certainty that analog transmission will come to an end. Even though parallel
technologies such as D-Cable, DTH, IPTV and Multimedia broadcasting would be
prevailing, terrestrial transmission will have to continue on account of various
reasons. Doordarshan, being the public service broadcaster will have to migrate to
DTT in the years to come. Doordarshan plans to include schemes for digitalization of
terrestrial transmission in 11th Plan.

Digitalization Programme of Prasar Bharati - All India Radio
In order to provide the listeners with high technical quality radio programmes, All
India Radio has planned to migrate from analogue to Digital. The status of
digitalization of AIR and proposed plans is given below.

Programme Generation and Production
By the end of 10th Plan, all the studio centres are expected to be equipped with the
Hard Disk Based System for recording, editing and post production of programmes.
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This implies that about 50% of the programme generation and playback activities
would be digitalized. New Broadcasting House at Delhi employing fully digital studios
and State of the Art technology has been commissioned. Substantial part of AIR’s
archival material which was in analogue form has been digitalized.
AIR proposes to move towards full digitalization of the studios by converting all
studio equipment including digital wiring /connectivity etc. to Digital Mode.
The
Stations are proposed to store all their recording in central servers with storage to be
set up at Delhi. The central storage site will also have a disaster recovery site. Each
station is proposed to be provided with low end server for storage of scheduled
programmes and other local equipment. Besides, all stations would be networked.

News Room Automation
Central News Division at NBH Delhi has been digitalized and all the regional news
units would be digitalized and networked during the 11 th Plan period.

Transmission Set up
At present AIR employs transmission in MW, SW and FM band in analogue mode
only. Only one Low Power DAB transmitter at Delhi has been set up for experimental
purpose. During 10th Plan, a pilot scheme employing 1 KW DAB Transmitter has
been proposed at Delhi.
Keeping in view the world wide trends of transition in digital mode, AIR plans to
introduce Digital Radio Mondale (DRM) transmission below 30 MHz. i.e. MF and HF
band by upgrading its existing DRM compatible transmitters. All new transmitters
including the replacement of old transmitters would be done by DRM compatible
transmitters. For transmission above 30 MHz introduction of DRM + and DAB are
being examined.
However all digital transmission as and when introduced, will be in simulcast mode
for about 10 years. This would be necessary as receivers in the beginning may be
costly. Once the receivers become affordable by masses simulcast mode would be
phased out.

Contribution and Distribution network
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Contribution & Distribution set of AIR comprising of uplinks, Downlinks and Satellite
News Gathering is being upgraded to digital.

Expansion of DTH
With a view to provide digital quality direct sound broadcast to the listeners it is
proposed to expand the existing DTH services during the 11th Plan.

Other services proposed in digital mode

DMB/DVB-H - AIR has plans to introduce its audio multimedia contents
both in satellite and terrestrial mode to the mobile hand held devices in
DMB/ DVB-H/ other standards.

Multi-channel webcasting cum podcasting – It is proposed to use
Internet platform to serve listeners having internet connectivity. This will
support non-linear listening.
5.2
Requirement of spectrum for transition to Digital Radio
Transmission – Though no additional spectrum is required for DRM transmissions
in MW and SW band. However, additional spectrum would be required for DRM
transmitters in FM and VHF band as well as ‘L’ Band.
5.3
Cable TV: Out of 61 Million Households cable connections
all over India, 35% are in rural areas. This service is easily available and affordable
in the rural areas. This industry is geared up to meet the challenge of digital
broadcasting. The present status is as follows:
a)
From uplink station to Satellite- already Digital
b)
From Satellite to Cable TV Headend- already Digital
c)
From Cable TV Headend to Subscriber – Digital/ Analog
d)
Most of the MSOs in the Metros and big cities have already gone digital.
e)
Only 7000 Headends required to go digital
5.4
All franchisees are not affected by Digitisation as they only
pass the signal (Analog/Digital) received from the Headend to the subscribers and
do not process the signal. Digitisation of subscribers end depends on introduction of
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digital TV in the market at affordable prices and aim for digitalization of Cable TV
headend immediately. To further galvanize the rollout, all the content producers –
Prasar Bharati as well as private operators to provide agreed and identified channels
in the digital / HDTV format to MSO / cable operators under “Must Carry” clause.
5.5
The major Hurdle in Digitisation presently is the absence of
digital receiver sets. Coupled with this about 45% TV sets of consumers are Black
and White. However, Set Top Boxes / digital CAS act as a catalyst for
implementation of digitisation. The Consumer Electronics and TV Manufacturing
Association (CETMA) has indicated that the cost increase in case of a TV set,
capable of receiving digital terrestrial signal in addition to analogue signal would be
about Rs 1000.00 from the existing prices. For the existing analogue TV sets, which
are expected to be around 120 million by year 2010, the consumers would need to
have DTT set top box (STB) to receive the signals. The cost of STB is presently
about Rs 2250.00 and is decreasing every year by 7 – 8 %.
5.6
The industry would require a lead time of six months to
meet the demand for the digital TV sets and radio receivers. Similarly, industry would
be in a position to provide STBs in about 16 – 20 weeks from the time the
government decides to change over to digital broadcasting.
5.7
For successful rollout, the government needs to firm up the
transition path and announce timelines so that all the stake holders could put their
acts together and make the transition as smooth and successful as possible.
Success of DTT depends upon the availability of requisite consumer end equipment
and introduction of STB coupled with CAS. India is a price sensitive market and one
solution or product fits all case is not commensurate with the consumer thinking.
Hence we may have to introduce various models of STB (plain vanilla model having
Digital to Analogue converter with addressability of channels with CAS to high-end
models) with increasing value added features to meet the requirements of the
consumers. The requisite standards need to be put in place for the STB so that
issues such as interoperability, after sales service etc., could be taken care. The
view graph below gives different categories of STBs with features.
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Terrestrial STB Features
•
Basic STB Features
–
–
–
–
•
Receive the Digital Terrestrial Transmission
Demultiplex MPEG-2 Transport Streams
Successfully Decode And Display Individual TV Programs
Provide Stereo Or Surround Sound Audio Outputs
Enhanced STB Features
Features
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Decode High Definition Television Program Streams
Provide Analog High Definition Output Signals
Provide Optional Dolby DigitalT Multichannel Audio
Outputs
Digital Video Interface, or DVI, To Replace Y Pr Pb
Provide Copy Protection Of HDTV "Content"
Permit Enhanced Functions such as Interactive Program
Conditional Access Service (CAS)
Personnal Video Recording (PVR)
Triple Play - Telephony, Data and Video
STB with
Telephony,
Data,PVR
& Video
STB with
PVR
(Humax PVRSMART - US$500 –
700 Approx)
STB with
CAS & Interactivity
Basic STB
(Price Approx US$85)
Digital Converter Box
Terrestrial STB Categories
Presently there are about 61 million cable TV homes and each one of them is a
potential candidate for migration to digital format on implementation. In order to
make this happen and create demand, indigenous manufacturing of digital TV set &
STB, needs to be incentivised by providing requisite fiscal incentives. The suggested
incentives are:
1.
The Excise duty on digital TV set, STB and its inputs be rationalized to 8%.
2.
A State VAT of 4%.
Thus a total taxation level of 12 % is recommended. This will give impetus to the
indigenous STB industry, which would generate economic activity and employment
in the country.
6.
SPECTRUM – THE HEART OF DIGITISATION
6.1
Going digital encompasses digital Broadcasting, telecom as
well as other technologies for access and back-bone networks which deploy digital
systems. While some of the frequency bands used for broadcasting have exclusive
allocations for ‘Broadcasting’, most of the bands are shared with other services. For
example, the 800/ 900 MHz bands used for cellular services – GSM & CDMA, etc.
are available for broadcasting also. The satellite based TV broadcasting is mostly in
the frequency bands, which are shared with microwave systems. Hence, while
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evolving/ modifying the NFAP (National Frequency Allocation Plan), the relative
national priorities of various spectrum based services have to be taken into account.
6.2
Normally digital transmissions require larger bandwidth.
However, with modern compression techniques, which are improving continuously, it
is now possible to accommodate multiple channels in the RF bandwidth of a single
existing (analogue) channel. Hence, on complete transition to digital systems in
broadcasting, the spectrum requirements should reduce or alternatively, it would be
possible to transmit larger number of channels in the bandwidth occupied by existing
channels.
6.3
During transition phase, existing analogue & the new digital
systems would need to be broadcast together, requiring larger spectrum bandwidth.
The requirements can be assessed once the number of channels for simultaneous
transmission is worked out. With digital broadcasting, it is possible to include data,
Internet, etc. within the broadcasting channels.

Digitalization of Radio Broadcast (FM Radio):
During the migration from Analogue to Digital Radio, new frequency assignments are
to be identified to facilitate smooth migration and for some time both the existing
analogue transmissions as well as new digital transmissions would continue. Hence,
there will be spectrum constraint during this transition phase. Also, the spectrum for
digital migration may need to be identified for both Prasar Bharti as well as Private
FM Broadcasters.

Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT):
The frequency band which is mostly used for DTT services is 700 MHz band. TRAI
has recommended use of this band for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) and
WiMAX services for rural areas. Therefore, before introduction of DTT, it is
necessary that availability of spectrum in this band for DTT, along with possible
sharing and co-existence of DTT with BWA/ WiMAX systems, are ensured.

Digital Broadcast through satellite transmissions:
The Satellite Television Channels as well as DTH are transmitted even at present,
mostly through Digital technology. However, M/o I & B has proposed use of ‘C’ and
‘S’ band for direct reception of TV transmissions. Presently, the DTH transmission is
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carried out in ‘Ku’ band, though in the frequency bands meant for ‘Fixed Satellite
Service (FSS) rather than in bands allocated for Broadcasting Satellite Service
(BSS). Extension of such digital transmission to ‘C’ and ‘S’ band needs spectrum
coordination with other services/ applications. Mobile Satellite Service is also
operating in the ‘S’ band and the spectrum in this band is limited. In addition, ‘S’
band is also proposed for use of BWA/ WiMAX technologies. Before introduction of
‘S’ band for digital satellite TV transmission, coordination/ sharing studies have to be
carried out with terrestrial transmissions.

Value Added Services
Conventional broadcasting is only one way transmission. If Triple Play, Value Added
Services and interactive user choice etc. are to be introduced in the broadcasting as
part of ‘Going Digital’, broadcast transmitters have also to employ spectrum efficient
systems for better methodologies for frequency re-use including use of low power
transmitters etc., so as to ensure optimal usage of available spectrum.
For the
introduction of Value Added Services along with Broadcasting, it is necessary that
the telecom service licence conditions are also taken into account.
Mo I&B, private broadcasters and service providers along with department of
Telecommunications (WPC cell) need to work in a coordinated manner to identify
spectrum requirements keeping their rollout plans so that spectrum planning could
be proactively made. A Spectrum Management Group could be set up to achieve
this.
7.
PRASAR BHARATI – FINANCIAL RESTRUCTURING COMMITTEE
FINDINGS
7.1
The Committee on Financial Restructuring of Prasar Bharati
was setup with an aim to (i) Suggest a viable capital and financial structure for
Prasar Bharati; (ii) Look into the role of Prasar Bharati as a public broadcaster and
need to maximize its revenue potential while proposing a viable capital & financial
structure.
Secretary, I&B, pointed out, that while discussing the financial
restructuring issues, the issue of digitalization of its services was also considered
and appropriate model suggested as part of restructuring.
7.2
Mo I & B informed that with the implementation of
digitalization the number of terrestrial transmitters would be reduced from the
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existing 1400 to 700.
For Doordarshan, the committee worked out four options
based on various combinations. They are
1.
Terrestrial without digitalization,
2.
Terrestrial with digitalization,
3.
DTH with terrestrial without digitalization
4.
DTH with terrestrial and digitalization.
7.3
The restructuring committee recommended the 4th option
which requires a capital investment of Rs. 3531.00 Crore for Doordarshan during
2007-15, which will help in meeting the growing demands. The financial details are at
Appendix B.
7.4
Similarly, for AIR five options of future investment scenario
were suggested considering various priorities such as replacement of existing MW,
SW, and FM Transmitters; studio links, studio equipments, networking of stations,
extension of coverage, expansion of FM coverage, DRM, external services, satellite
broadcasting,
multi-media,
automation,
digitalization
and
DTH
with
public
broadcasting role. The options are:
1.
No expansion and full replacement
(a)
Option 1 plus urban existing FM Towers to relay existing FM stations
2.
Digitalization, Multi-media services: 60% FM, 2 SWA Channels
3.
Digitalization, Multi-media Services: 75%, 5SW Channels.
4.
Digitalization, Multimedia Services: 100% FM – 5SW channels.
5.
A mix of option 2 plus reduction in social broadcasting from 70% to 10%.
7.5
Out of these, the fourth option was recommended, which
would require capital investments of the order of Rs. 5900.0 crore over 10 years,
which will enable AIR to go digital. The financial details are at Appendix C. Thus
Prasar Bharati would thus require Rs 9431.0 crore over a period of ten years. This
funding towards capital would help in addressing the changing technology, move to
the digital transmission, in providing efficient and high quality services and
operations. The revenue generation capacity is expected to increase and it is
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expected that Rs 16910.0 crores would be earned by Prasar Bharati during this
period. However, with the Commonwealth Games being held in 2010, Prasar Bharati
could substantially increase its revenue earnings if it can embrace new technology in
its content creation as well as in transmission.
8.
DIGITAL DELHI
8.1
With the Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held in
Delhi in 2010, it is essential to use this opportunity to showcase India’s strengths in
IT and especially by turning Delhi into a world class city which is Network and WiMax
enabled for the delivery of a reliable and effective technology platform to support the
games. The Delhi government has drawn up a detailed roadmap for creating Digital
Delhi. Some of the major initiatives cover facilities for the international visitors,
participants, citizens and providing Games information
8.2
In order to address the above, various initiatives have been
taken which include:
Online hotel booking & cancellation – developing Delhi tourism portal.
Forward planning of social activities in India by providing access to high-class
electronic tourism services.
Local area information on mobile phones
Information Kiosks - For providing access to services in Delhi and games
based services
Airports, Railway Station, Bus Stands
Stadiums
Hotels and Tourist Places
Urban Knowledge Centers
Games Village
Common Wealth Games Portal with details of common wealth games history,
schedules, facilities, ticketing, etc.
Virtual tours of games facility
RFID identification of participants.
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Computerized help desk for all Games Related Activities.
Metro-E network – fibre optic back bone with wireless PoPs – Delhi’s own
electronic network available at low/ no cost to citizens.
WI-FI hot spots in games facilities, tourism facilities and public congregation
facilities like malls.
Public & Private content to be brought together under subject-specific portals
like sports, transport, entertainment, health, etc.
Creation of Intra Delhi & Knowledge portals.
Well secured electronic gateway for payment of bills.
9.
GOING DIGITAL FOR DIGITAL UNITE
9.1
Going Digital should not be seen as an exercise in isolation, but
with a purpose. In fact it should help in Bridging the Digital Divide or help in Digital
Unite. The digital technologies must help in the proliferation of the technologies and
bring the fruits of ICT to the rural areas. Presently, rural connectivity which is
predominantly voice centric is an unviable proposition.
9.2
To help bridge the digital divide, we need to bridge or
surmount the literacy, power and poverty barriers, which are predominant in the
rural area, which calls for rural centric technological interventions. In this regard, we
need to create a digital device which surmounts the three barriers indicated above.
We also need to create a ubiquitous network which facilitates instant broadband
connectivity. In other words we need a World Computer and Bits for All. Putting
these two together with Tools for Tomorrow which are rural centric will help in
creating a Digital Village as indicated below.
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Creation of a Digital Village - Research Themes
•
Focus on technologies
that are:
–
–
–
–
–
Relevant
High impact
Pervasive
Cost-effective
Replicable & Scalable
World Computer
An information technology device that can be used by
anyone, irrespective of wealth, education or infrastructure
availability
• Low cost
• Minimal infrastructure operations
• Usable by illiterates
Digital Village
Bits for All
Tomorrow’s Tools
Link organic, affordable
information devices (and
therefore people) in a costeffective manner
Devices to connect the digital
to the real world
Integration of the research allow villagers to express themselves
9.3
Creation of a Digital Village has many advantages. It can create
a knowledge society; provide empowerment through the dissemination of
information. Efforts are on for creation of such a village and various research
initiatives being pursued are indicated below:
Digital Village – Research Initiatives
Digital Village
Applications
& Services
eGovernance &
Education
Economic
Development
Health &
Agriculture
Communications
& Content
Census
SARI
ca:sh
Baatchit
Interlingua Web
Digital Mandi
UV-VIS
Spectrometer
Rural VOIP
& VMOIP
Suchik
Rural Fab Lab
PolySensors
Infothela
Tomorrow’s
Tools
Interfaces,
Sensors, & Tools
Numeric
Interfaces
Power
Sensors
Gram Chitra
World
Computer
OS, Languages &
Access Devices
Rural OS 1.0
Multi-Literate
Interfaces
iPAQ
Simputer
Communications
Infrastructure
802.rural
DakNet
Rural p2p
Meshes
Bits For All
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9.4
For any technology to be accepted, it needs to be related to the
end users. The devices need to be user-friendly. Therefore, it is essential to have
capabilities such as icon /menu driven, voice activated, touch sensitive screen input
and local language capability built into the device. Government should encourage
and generously fund activities like Infothela which help in bridging the Digital Divide.
Major thrust is needed for developing applications in Indian vernacular languages.
Infothela
What India needs is a ….
……Community Learning Device that is…
“e-Governance Cart” for
Portable
– Govt. information – forms,
Schemes
– Land records
– Education
– Agriculture
– Weather
– Healthcare
– Email, fax, Internet
– Entertainment
– Video conference
Easy to use
Affordable
Easy to maintain
and upgrade
• PC connected via wireless
technology on Rickshaw
& pedal powered.
• Mobile platform for
bringing ICTs directly to
the user at his doorstep
Versatile
Sturdy and robust for
local conditions
9.5
With digitization of content and entertainment in particular
and next generation networks coupled with the introduction of 3G services on
the mobile platform, it is now possible for bridging the digital divide effectively
through bringing in triple play and using home TV or the mobile phone as the
bridging device. Also there is a need to encourage content creation at the local
level in local languages through a specific genre of Rural Content Providers.
9.6
Triple play services riding on entertainment related applications
would be able to create the most viable business models for the spread of rural
connectivity. Applications of Wi Max technology will allow entertainment to rural
areas and this will provide Ubquitous Broadband experience to rural areas. Just as
Wi Fi band has been delicensed, we need to move to the next step in encouraging
proliferation of Wi Max technology for which the Wi Max band (2.5 GHz / 3.5 GHz /
700 MHz or existing Wi Fi band 2.4 – 2.48 GHz) could be delicensed for rural
connectivity.
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9.7
The Department of Information Technology is taking several
steps to make PCs affordable for the masses. The Department is also taking steps to
popularise local language tools since PC penetration as well as Internet coverage is
critically dependent on local language content being made available. The
Department has an ambitious plan of setting up 1,00,000 Common Service Centres
(CSCs) spread all over the country for the benefits of e-governance and other
services to reach the common man. The importance of creating local/rural content to
make PCs and Internet an attractive proposition to a much larger number of people
is well recognised. Involving the private sector in this regard would also be essential.
Therefore, it is felt that a new entrepreneurial category of Rural Content Providers
(RCPs) would give a further boost to and drive the demand both for PCs and Internet
access as well as for rural connectivity. It will also help in better utilisation of the
cable/ wireless network already laid, or being planned in the rural areas by the
Bandwidth Providers.
9.8
The issue that needs to be examined is how to encourage this
new category of Rural Content Provider. The Rural Content Provider would provide
content and other facilities, including entertainment, which will be of interest to the
rural population. Content creation would be a specialised area requiring thorough
understanding of the local requirements and language which can only be done
through local entrepreneurs. The business model of such an RCP would vary from
region to region and would be driven by the market. The department of IT and the
Department of Telecommunications need to evolve a suitable policy framework
which would encourage such RCPs. The existing incumbent access providers should
look upon these RCPs as engines to push faster and deeper penetration of the
market for their mutual economic benefit.
10.
ROAD MAP FOR DIGITISATION
10.1
Broadcasting sector:
Prasar Bharati to workout its roll out plan for Delhi going digital by
2010, in all other metros by 2011 and rest of the country by 2013.

Introduction of HDTV in a phased manner starting from Delhi (2008-09) and
extending it to all the six mega cities and coverage of Commonwealth Games
in HDTV format in 2010.
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
Digitisation of archives by Prasar Bharati

Create subject specific content servers for providing content on demand

Content creators and aggregators must provide free to air channels as well as
provide feed to all cable operators on demand.

Rationalise the charges of providing content to the consumers on a-lacarte
basis on cable.
10.2

Cable Operators
Change present system of charging from bouquet of channels to a-la carte of
channel.

Roll out of CAS to be tied up with digitalization

Course ware and training of cable operators for migrating to digital era and
provide services

Cable industry to be recognized as an infrastructure industry similar to
telecom
10.3

Industry
Production of digital receivers and STB to be synchronized with the roll out
Plan

Provide Incentives to the industry for going digital
10.4
Regulatory Issues
The regulatory issues relating to Going Digital would be covered in a
supplementary report after due consultation with all stakeholders.
11.
MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS ARRIVED AT THE MEETING OF THE SUB
GROUP ON GOING DIGITAL
11.1
Various issues related to all the stake holders have been
discussed. The most important one being the recognition of a schedule and date for
switching over to digital mode of transmission coupled with period of simulcasting
and the cut-off date for the analogue transmission. It was decided that to keep the
transition costs to the minimum, the switching over time as well as the simulcasting
period should be kept to the minimum. It was recommended that a phased approach
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should be taken for going digital. In the first phase, cover all the seven mega cities
by 2011 and rest of the country by 2013. In the context of the Commonwealth
Games being held in Delhi in 2010, we could synchronize the launch of DTT services
with a slogan Digital Delhi by 2010. Major recommendations of the sub group are
as follows:
11.2
Decisions related to Migration from Analogue to Digital
Broadcasting
Laying down the migration path for migration from analogue
transmission to digital domain, Member Secretary suggested an eleven stage
process.
i.
Testing, publication and adoption of technical standard for digital terrestrial
transmission.
ii.
Publication and adoption of national standards for digital cable television.
iii.
Prasar Bharati’s roll out of transmission conversion from analogue terrestrial
to digital terrestrial both for radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD).
iv.
Introduction of addressability and conditional access system in cable and
satellite TV environment.
v.
Road map and commencement of indigenous production of STBs containing
features such as (a) digital analogue convertors for delivery of digital signal at
subscribers’ end and (b) conditional access and addressability features.
vi.
Publication and adoption of national digital television standards for
manufacture of digital receivers.
vii.
Commencement of indigenous production of digital receivers.
viii.
Commencement of digital terrestrial broadcast in selected cities by Prasar
Bharati.
i.
Step I
- Delhi
-2010
ii.
Step II
- All mega cities
-2011
iii.
Step III
- All Tier II & Tier III cities
-2012
iv.
Step IV
- All other areas
-2013
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ix.
Commencement of HDTV broadcast for Commonwealth Games 2010 by
Prasar Bharati.
x.
Commencements of digital signal delivery at subscribers end in Cable and
Satellite (C & S) homes.
xi.
Nationwide switch off of analogue broadcast both for terrestrial and C & S
homes (2015).
11.3
Secretary M/o I & B, has welcomed the initiative and has
suggested looking into the road map prepared by various countries in their move
towards digitalization so that the intermediate steps are well understood and we can
prepare our initiatives accordingly. Member Secretary suggested that Prasar Bharati
along with the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) should look into this aspect and
come out with a paper for circulation.
11.4
It was also agreed that a group chaired by CEO Prasar Bharati
who is also Chairman of Indian Broadcasting Foundation and some private
broadcasters viz. Star, Zee, Sony, Eenadu etc. and their major MSOs will examine
the above eleven stage process and firm up their sequencing and put the entire
process on a “digital upgrade timeline”.
Ideally the migration process must
commence from Delhi in 2010, coinciding with Commonwealth Games and proceed
to other mega cities by 2011 and Tier II and Tier III cities by 2012. In non-urban
areas simulcast can continue for few more years. Analogue transmission should be
completely phased out by 2015 as the outer limit.
11.5
All the content producers – Prasar Bharati as well as private
operators to provide agreed and identified channels in the digital / HDTV format to
MSO / cable operators under “Must Carry” clause.
11.6
Introduction of HDTV in a phased manner starting from Delhi
(2008-09) and extending it to all the six mega cities and coverage of Commonwealth
Games in HDTV format in 2010.
11.7
Mo I&B, private broadcasters and service providers along with
department of Telecommunications (WPC cell) need to work in a coordinated
manner to identify spectrum requirements keeping their rollout plans so that
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spectrum planning could be proactively made.
A Spectrum Management Group
could be set up to achieve this.
11.8
Prasar Bharati to work out the financial implications of going
digital covering AIR and Doordarshan operations and submit the same to Planning
Commission.
11.9
The suggestion received from cable operators’ association
regarding training manpower in technical /vocational institutions is useful and
relevant. The association may develop the requirements and indicate the facilitation
in terms of accreditation of relevant courses necessary and provided them to Mo I&B
for follow up by them with MHRD.
11.10 Decision related to non-broadcasting issues
11.11 Amend the Cinematograph Act 1952 for inclusion of Digital
Cinema.
11.12 Digital Cinema should be seen as a means of securing IPR of
the film producer. Digitally recorded content taken from satellite in an encrypted
conduit, provides a failsafe method of delivering films to exhibitors directly, without
intermediary or distributor’s interface at multiple locations simultaneously, in
streaming audio-video-mode. This is the best guarantee against piracy. Digital
Cinema should, therefore, be encouraged by recourse to various fiscal and non fiscal
incentives.
11.13
Production of cinema in digital format could be on lower tax
regime and the theaters which have installed digital cinema exhibition facilities can
be subjected to say lower entertainment tax. This would need to be taken up with
State Governments.
11.14
Prasar Bharati to digitally archive all its contents including
educational contents for providing them for distribution streaming audio-video
technologies. Prasar Bharati may also workout a mechanism to leverage the rich
content available by appropriately pricing them and retailing them. All Prasar Bharati
content of Classics or Fiction should be made web accessable with premium content
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accessable through payment gateway. Public Service Broadcasting content should
be freely accessable on web.
11.15
All conditional access devices (and Set Top Boxes) should
be built on common standards for inter-operability, so that customers are not put to
inconvenience. This will also help in better absorption, acceptability of digital
technology.
The plain-vanilla-STB should lend itself to modular insertion of
proprietory data to include value-added services.
11.16
Content providers should be encouraged to work on
creation of domain specific server farms and data depositories. The concept of digital
libraries promoted by the Department of Information & Technology should also be
publicly made available. Create open access platforms like Google libraries and
others should also be encouraged. Memory modules, could specially be created for
lawyers, doctors, accountants and other professionals for instant data mining and
retrieval in respect of their domain.
11.17
Triple play services riding on entertainment related
applications would be able to create the most viable business models for spread of
rural connectivity. Applications of Wi Max technology will allow entertainment to rural
areas and this will provide Ubquitous Broadband experience to rural areas. Just as
Wi Fi band has been delicensed, we need to move to the next step in encouraging
proliferation of Wi Max technology for which the Wi Max band (2.5 GHz / 3.5 GHz /
700 MHz or existing Wi Fi band 2.4 – 2.48 GHz) could be delicensed for rural
connectivity.
11.18
Content creation would be a specialised area requiring
thorough understanding of the local requirements and language which can only be
done through local entrepreneurs. The Rural Content Provider (RCP) would provide
content and other facilities, including entertainment, which will be of interest to the
rural population. Delivery of services could be through home TV or Mobile telephone.
The business model of such an RCP would vary from region to region and would be
driven
by
the
market.
The
department
of
IT
and
the
Department
of
Telecommunications need to evolve a suitable policy framework which would
encourage such RCPs.
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11.19
Deparment
of
Information
&
Technology/National
Informatics Centre should work out a comprehensive plan for rollout of Statewise,
regionwise and citiwise GIS database and encourage private enterprise to do
customized applications and value addition for various public sector as well as
private sector applications.
11.20
There is a need for convergence in regulation in the light of
developments in technology and the M/o I & B is requested to take a fresh look at the
proposal for having a common communications convergence regulator with separate
bureaus under it for dealing with content and carriage. A supplementary report will be
submitted with regard to regulatory issues relating to going digital.
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Appendix A
No. M-13040/8/2006-C&I
Government of India
Planning Commission
(C&I Division)
Subject:-
Minutes of the First meeting of the Sub Group on “Going Digital”
held under the Chairmanship of Member Secretary, Planning Commission on
5.4.06.
List of Participants is placed at Annexure-‘A’.
Member Secretary, Planning Commission, opened the meeting with the suggestion
that Going Digital was one of the important issues under consideration of the
Committee on Information, Communication and Entertainment (ICE). India, taking
note of international trends in digital broadcasting, should set a date for going digital,
clearly delineating the dates of initiating the process, completion and switching off
the analog transmitters.
2.
Adviser (C&I), then, briefed the Group that the mandate of the ICE committee
was to draw a road map for going digital taking into account the global trends before
2015. This would require:
a.
Working out the infrastructural needs for shifting from analog to digital
mode, converting existing analog terrestrial transmitters, production facilities and last
mile connectivity issues.
b.
Investment required converting the analog transmission into digital one.
The real concerns are pricing and availability of the digital TVs /radio receiver sets.
c.
Issues related to regulatory frame work - regulatory frame work has to be
put in place to regulate content, and spectrum trading.
d.
Incentives required to be provided to the industries to expedite the pace of
transition.
3.
It was agreed that this meeting will confine itself to digital broadcasting and in
this context he highlighted the target dates fixed by different countries for going
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digital. Member Secretary pointed out that Prasar Bharati has to look into its
infrastructural conversion needs for converting analogue terrestrial transmitters and
studio facilities. We need to go into details of additional bandwidth required during
the simulcasting period and we also need to go into the question of spectrum trading
after the completion of digitalization.
4.
Member Secretary said that viewed in a wider sense digitalization
encompasses domains far wider than broadcasting. Therefore, in the next meeting,
some members were requested to make presentations covering various related
issues, such as “digital data transmission”, “digital archiving”, “digital films and music
libraries”, “digitally cache’d content”, “domain specific data servers” etc.
5.
The status of Prasar Bharati and its preparedness for going digital has been
highlighted by the CEO Prasar Bharati, who has said that they are ready to take on
the roll out date and work towards its implementation.
6.
President NASSCOM asserted that India, unlike other developing countries is
better prepared for shifting to digital mode. He added that it is crucial to cut down on
the cost of transition by shortening the period of migration and simulcasting. The
longer the period of transition, he added, higher would be the costs due to
investments required and also the cost at the consumers end.
7.
It was suggested that for going digital, India should achieve the target in two
stages say all mega cities by 2010 and rest of the country by 2015. He said with the
advent of convergence in devices, it would make better logic to provide content
which will be acceptable on all kinds of devices. CAS should be integrated with
digital STB, which will bring in common standard for convergence.
8.
Chairman, CII Entertainment Committee, spoke on the need for having a
common regulatory forum for ICE sector covering regulatory laws concerning both
content as well as carriage. Convergence law is important and will help in moving
towards a digital world. The ministry of I&B needs to play an angel role here in
implementation of the convergence law. Intellectual Property Rights, copy right laws
are also a major issue, which need to be addressed especially in the light of digital
archiving of the content. Member Secretary suggested that NASSCOM, CII and
FICCI could jointly look at the existing laws and workout the amendments required to
be made. The report would be circulated to all for discussions and finalization in the
next meeting. Member Secretary also pointed out that enforcement of IPR becomes
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easier since digitally transmitted and stored content can be secured against
unauthorized access by password protection and digital signature.
9.
He said affordability of the digital delivery system to the poor, who may be
deprived of the present system, is a concern and this should not lead to furthering
the digital divide. Government should come out with a policy relating to the pricing of
digital handheld and desktop devices. There was also a suggestion that in view of
the rapid technological shifts more as a policy matter, there should be a strategy for
education, capacity building for creating entire chain of skills and structures required
for carrying out the digitalization process. Whereas this would make the shift to
digital mode smooth, the pricing policy would take care of smooth adjustment of
demand and supply of transmitters, set top boxes, digital-analogue converters, and
other related goods and services, so that profiteering is prevented.
10.
He also indicated that normally industry is slow in its response to adopting
new technologies due to the prevalent mindset of not putting anything at stake until
investment takes place in the forward and backward linked industries and activities.
Therefore, there is a need for government playing a big role and make investment
through its PSUs like BEL to provide the needed equipments at the initial stage,
which will kick start the rollout as well as check the prices. Member Secretary,
Planning Commission, viewed that Min. of I&B and Deptt. of Telecommunication
could play a role in this connection.
11.
Chairman, FICCI Entertainment Committee, pointed out that the sub-group
should consider inclusion of stakeholders such as Google and Microsoft who are
pioneers of virtualization, digital data, its delivery and also TRAI. He supported the
view that India should go digital by 2010 and suggested adopting a slogan ‘Digital
Delhi by 2010’.
12.
President Cable Operators’ Association sighted that the reason for failure of
CAS was not because of non-availability of set-top boxes; rather it was because of
absence of transparent pricing policy. Ultimately, consumers should have the right to
choose the bouquet of channels they want to view and ala-carte pricing should be
adopted instead of bouquet pricing being followed now. She also opined that in view
of new technologies being introduced, training of cable operators would be highly
desirable. Also to ensure availability of technical manpower, cable operation related
training modules be introduced in technical schools and vocational training institutes.
Financial help, she added, to the cable operators should be provided to enable them
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to move to the digitalization smoothly, especially in the case of rural operators. As far
as adoption of CAS, the cable operators favor it due to its transparency.
13.
Executive Director MAIT pointed out that initially set top boxes or STBs were
imported from China and now the industry has prepared a roadmap for
manufacturing STBs indigenously and should also move to indigenous manufacture
of digital receivers. He also asserted that the date of transition should be as early as
possible to minimize the transition costs.
14.
President, Public Service Broadcasting Trust highlighted the need for having
an open platform digital content access system with regard to such public interest
areas as libraries, learning institutions, etc. It was pointed out that two such platforms
already exist viz. (a) the Universal Digital Library of DIT & (b) DTH platform of
Doordarshan, which could very effectively be used for dedicated domain-specific
channel carrying digital content from whatever the source, if it seeks to be placed in
public domain.
15.
Consumers are the primary stake holders in this entire exercise and their
affordability needs to be taken into account while deciding the pricing of various
elements of digitization activity. Consumer preferences would be the drivers for new
services which can be provided on the DTT/or DTH mode.
Decisions related to Migration from Analogue to Digital Broadcasting
1.
Laying down the migration path for migration from analogue transmission
to digital domain, Member Secretary suggested a ten stage process.
i.
Testing, publication and adoption of technical standard for digital terrestrial
transmission.
ii.
Publication and adoption of national standards for digital cable television.
iii.
Prasar Bharati’s roll out of transmission conversion from analogue terrestrial
to digital terrestrial both for radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD).
iv.
Introduction of addressability and conditional access system in cable and
satellite TV environment.
v.
Road map and commencement of indigenous production of STBs containing
features such as (a) digital analogue convertors for delivery of digital signal at
subscribers’ end and (b) conditional access and addressability features.
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vi.
Publication and adoption of national digital television standards for
manufacture of digital receivers.
vii.
Commencement of indigenous production of digital receivers.
viii.
Commencement of digital terrestrial broadcast in selected cities by Prasar
Bharati.
xii.

Step I
-
Delhi

Step II
-
All mega cities

Step III
-
All Tier II & Tier III cities

Step IV
-
All existing DD States
Commencement of HDTV broadcast for Commonwealth Games 2010 by
Prasar Bharati.
xiii.
Commencement of digital signal delivery at subscribers end in cable and
satellite (C & S) homes.
xiv.
Nationwide switch off of analogue broadcast both for terrestrial and C&S
homes.
2.
Secretary M/O I & B, has welcomed the initiative and has suggested looking
into the road map prepared by various countries in their move towards digitalization
so that the intermediate steps are well understood and we can prepare our initiatives
accordingly. Member Secretary suggested that Prasar Bharati along with the Indian
Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) should look into this aspect and come out with a
paper for circulation to all the members.
3.
It was also agreed that a group chaired by CEO Prasar Bharati who is also
Chairman of Indian Broadcasting Foundation and some private broadcasters viz.
Star, Zee, Sony, Eenadu etc. and their major MSOs will examine the above 9 stage
process and suggest their sequencing and put them on a “digital upgrade
timeline”.
Ideally the migration process must commence from Delhi in 2010,
coinciding with Commonwealth Games and proceed to other megacities by 2011 and
Tier II and Tier III cities by 2012. In non-urban areas simulcast can continue for few
more years. Analogue transmission should be completely phased out by 2015 as
the outer limit.
Decision related to non-broadcasting issues
1.
NASSCOM, CII and FICCI should jointly workout the regulatory and legal
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issues which are required to be addressed and suggest an action plan for enacting a
common regulatory framework and submit their report by 20th April 2006.
(Action: NASSCOM)
2.
There is a need for convergence in regulation in light of developments in
technology and the M/o I & B is requested to take a fresh look at the proposal for
having a common communications convergence regulator with separate bureaus
under it for dealing with content and carriage.
(Action: Mo I&B)
3.
Prasar Bharati to work out the financial implications of going digital covering
AIR and Doordarshan operations and submit the same to Planning Commission by
20th April 2006.
(Action: Prasar Bharati)
4.
The suggestion received from cable operators’ association regarding training
manpower in technical /vocational institutions is useful and relevant. The association
may develop the requirements and indicate the facilitation interms of accreditation of
relevant courses necessary and provided them to Mo I&B for follow up by them with
MHRD.
(Action: Cable Operators Association, M/O I & B)
5.
Prasar Bharati to digitally archive all its contents including educational
contents for providing them through streaming audio-video technologies. Also
workout a mechanism to leverage the rich content available by appropriately pricing
them and retailing them.
(Action: Prasar Bharati)
6.
All access devises should be built on common standards for inter-operability
and for protection of IPR of content, so that customers are not put to inconvenience.
This will also help in better absorption, acceptability of digital technology.
(Action: Mo I&B& Industry Associations)
7.
Content providers should work on creation of domain specific server farms
and data depository. The concept of digital library promoted by the Department of
Information & Technology should also be publicly made available. Create open
access platforms like Google libraries and others should also be encouraged.
(Action: DIT and Mo I&B)
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Annexure A
Member who attended the meeting of the Sub Group on Going Digital held on
5th April, 2006 at 3.00 PM.
SN
1.
Name & Designation
Shri Rajeeva Ratna Shah, Member Secretary, Planning Commission
In the Chair
2.
Dr. J. S. Sarma, Secretary, DOT
3.
Shri S. K. Arora, Secretary, M/O I & B
4.
Shri S. K. Sarma, CEO Prasar Bharati
5.
Shri P. K. Garg, Wireless Advisor, DOT
6.
Shri Amit Agrawal, Dy. Secretary, PMO
7.
Shri Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM
8.
Shri Anoop Kumar, President, CETMA
9.
10.
Shri Kunal Dasgupta, Co-chairman, FICCI Entertainment Committee & CEO,
SONY
Shri Bobby Bedi, Chairman, CII Entertainment Committee;
Chairman, Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd.
11.
Shri Vinne Mehta ED, MAIT
12.
Shri Sanjay Diwedi, President-ISP Association of India
13.
Smt. Roop Sharma, President, Cable TV Operators Association
14.
Shri Rajiv Mehrotra, Managing Trustee, Public Service Broadcasting Trust
15.
Shri Virat Bhatia, AT&T Communications services
16.
Shri Sameer Rao, VP-Strategy, Planning & Regulatory, STAR India Pvt. Ltd.,
17.
Dr. C. Muralikrishna Kumar Adviser (C&I), Planning Commission
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APPENDIX B
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APPENDIX C
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